Witch Doctor Sentenced to Death for Killing 3 Children

Witch doctor Tun Naing remanded in custody at a local court on Nov. 3 after killing three children in an exorcism ritual in a village in Twante Township. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

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By Htun Htun 20 June 2017

YANGON — A witch doctor who beat three children to death in October was sentenced to death on Tuesday, police confirmed.

The Yangon South District Court sentenced Tun Naing to death plus seven years in prison for beating three children to death in a purported exorcism ritual in a village in Twante Township outside of Yangon.

The convict will be hanged, but has seven days to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Union in Naypyitaw, said state prosecutor U Myo Thein.

The 30-year-old was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm and destroying evidence.

Last October in Twante Township’s Pathi Gon village, the witch doctor beat and kicked a 3-year-old boy and two girls aged eight months and two years respectively to death, while also severely beating another 4-year-old girl.

The death penalty has not been implemented in Myanmar for the past four decades.

The last death sentence was given in 1977 to Cpt Ohn Kyaw Myint – a personal staff officer of the then commander-in-chief of the armed forces Gen Kyaw Htin – who plotted along with a group of army officers including founding National League for Democracy leader Gen Tin Oo to assassinate military dictator Gen Ne Win and other state leaders.